The present invention relates to a wireless ultrasound diagnostic system capable of wireless transmission of signals received from an ultrasound probe to the body of a diagnostic apparatus. The invention more specifically relates to a wireless ultrasound diagnostic system capable of suitably dealing with the replacement of an oscillator unit in a wireless ultrasound probe and the simultaneous presence of a wireless ultrasound probe and a wired ultrasound probe.
Heretofore, ultrasound diagnostic apparatuses that use ultrasound images have been put to practical use in the medical field. In general, this type of ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprises an ultrasound probe having a built-in oscillator array and an apparatus body connected to the ultrasound probe. The ultrasound probe transmits ultrasonic waves toward a subject, receives ultrasonic echoes from the subject, and the apparatus body electrically processes the reception signals to generate an ultrasound image.
An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus including an ultrasound probe and a diagnostic apparatus body connected by wireless communication has recently been developed in order to eliminate cumbersome handling of a communication cable of connecting the ultrasound probe with the diagnostic apparatus body for the improvement of operability.
As described in JP 2007-275087 A, an example of such a wireless ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprises an ultrasound probe including a transmitter/receiver which transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to obtain reception signals for an ultrasound image and a wireless transmitter which wirelessly transmits probe identification information and the reception signals to a diagnostic apparatus body, and the apparatus body including an apparatus controller which controls in accordance with the probe identification information and an image forming section which forms the ultrasound image based on the reception signals.
On the other hand, an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus is used for making various diagnoses in subjects but the scan mode of the ultrasound probes or the proper ultrasound frequency range may often differ with the purpose of diagnosis or the site to be diagnosed.
It is therefore possible to prepare a plurality of types of ultrasound probes and connect an ultrasound probe selected according to the purpose of diagnosis to the apparatus body. However, it is more costly to prepare the plurality of types of ultrasound probes beforehand because the ultrasound probes are generally expensive.
In order to deal with this situation, an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus has also been developed in which various diagnoses can be made by preparing a plurality of replaceable piezoelectric oscillator units each having an oscillator array and detachably mounting a suitable piezoelectric oscillator unit on the ultrasound probe body.
An example of such an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes, as shown in JP 2009-60992 A, an ultrasound probe which has a piezoelectric oscillator unit, a housing for holding the piezoelectric oscillator unit, and a detachable element connector disposed between the piezoelectric oscillator unit and the housing.
As described above, the scan mode of the ultrasound probes differs with the site to be diagnosed. In addition, the proper frequency range may often differ with the purpose of diagnosis.
Therefore, according to an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus having replaceable piezoelectric oscillator units as described in JP 2009-60992 A, settings of the ultrasound probe used can be finely changed and optimized depending on the site to be diagnosed or the purpose of diagnosis.
An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus as described in JP 2007-275087 A which wirelessly transmits the reception signals of the ultrasound probe to the diagnostic apparatus body can have an enlarged function by a method as described in JP 2009-60992 A in which a plurality of types of replaceable piezoelectric oscillator units are detachably mounted on an ultrasound probe body depending on the site to be diagnosed or the purpose of diagnosis.
However, the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus having the replaceable piezoelectric oscillator units as described in JP 2009-60992 A cannot operate with a high flexibility by merely identifying the ultrasound probe in the diagnostic apparatus body as described in JP 2007-275087 A.
An object of the present invention is to solve the foregoing prior art problems and to provide a wireless ultrasound diagnostic system which wirelessly transmits reception signals of an ultrasound probe to a diagnostic apparatus body and is capable of flexible and smooth wireless connection between the diagnostic apparatus body and the ultrasound probe having replaceable piezoelectric oscillator units and having desired settings.